Question 468225: What is the identity element
Answer by moshiz08(60)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! If you have any binary operator, then the identity element is the thing that leaves all other elements unchanged when operated on with them. By binary operator, think of things like plus and multiply.
So for the example of addition, the identity element would be 0 since adding 0 to anything gives you the same thing back. For multiplication, the identity element is 1 because when you multiply something by 1 you get the same thing.
Those were the most common examples, but if you have studied matrices then I can give a few more. With matrix multiplication, the identity element is the matrix with 1's going down the diagonal and 0's everywhere else. The identity element for matrix addition is the matrix where every element is 0.
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